A Ride to India across Persia and Baluchistan by Harry De Windt

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A Ride to India across Persia and Baluchistán ... With illustrations by Herbert Walker from sketches by the author [and a map].

Produced by Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed Proofreaders

[Illustration: IN THE DESERT SUNRISE]

A RIDE TO INDIA

ACROSS PERSIA AND BALUCHISTAN.

BY

HARRY DE WINDT, F.R.G.S.,

AUTHOR OF "FROM PEKIN TO CALAIS BY LAND," ETC.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

BY

HERBERT WALKER _FROM SKETCHES BY THE AUTHOR_.

1891.

TO

AUDLEY LOVELL, ESQUIRE,

COLDSTREAM GUARDS,

THIS VOLUME

IS

DEDICATED.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. TIFLIS--BAKU

II. THE CASPIAN--ASTARA--RESHT

III. RESHT--PATCHINAR

IV. PATCHINAR--TEHERAN

V. TEHERAN

VI. TEHERAN--ISPAHAN

VII. ISPAHAN--SHIRAZ

VIII. SHIRAZ--BUSHIRE

IX. BALUCHISTAN--BEILA

X. BALUCHISTAN--GWARJAK

XI. KELAT--QUETTA--BOMBAY

APPENDIX

MAP

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

* * * * *

IN THE DESERT SUNRISE

TIFLIS

A DIRTY NIGHT IN THE CASPIAN

ASTARA, RUSSO-PERSIAN FRONTIER

CROSSING THE KHARZAN

TEHERAN

PERSIAN DANCING-GIRL

POST-HOUSE AT KUSHKU BAIRA

A CORPSE CARAVAN

A DAY IN THE SNOW

A FAMILY PARTY

YEZDI-GHAZT

THE CARAVANSERAI, MEYUN KOTAL

SONMIANI

OUR CAMP AT OUTHAL

MALAK

A "ZIGRI" AT GWARJAK

NOMAD BALUCH TENT

JEBRI

KELAT

PALACE OF H.H. THE KHAN KELAT

THE KHAN OF KELAT

A RIDE TO INDIA.

CHAPTER I.

TIFLIS--BAKU.

"Ceci non!"

A spacious apartment, its polished _parquet_ strewn with whitebearskins and the thickest and softest of Persian rugs; its panelledwalls hung with Oriental tapestries, costly daggers, pistols, andshields of barbaric, but beautiful, workmanship, glistening with goldand silver. Every detail of the room denotes the artistic taste of theowner. Inlaid tables and Japanese cabinets are littered with pricelessporcelain and _cloisonne_, old silver, and diamond-set miniatures; thelow divans are heaped with cushions of deep-tinted satin and gold;heavy violet plush curtains drape the windows; while huge palms,hothouse plants, and bunches of sweet-smelling Russian violets occupyevery available nook and corner. The pinewood fire flashes fitfullyon a masterpiece of Vereschagin's, which stands on an easel by thehearth, and the massive gold "ikon," [A] encrusted with diamonds andprecious stones, in the corner. A large oil painting of his Majestythe Czar of Russia hangs over the marble chimneypiece.

It is growing dark. Already a wintry wilderness of garden without,upon which snow and sleet are pitilessly beating, is barelydiscernible. By the window looms, through the dusk, the shadowy shapeof an enormous stuffed tiger, crouched as if about to spring upon aspare white-haired man in neat dark green uniform, who, seated at awriting-table covered with papers and official documents, has justsettled himself more comfortably in a roomy armchair. With a pleasantsmile, and a long pull at a freshly lit "papirosh," he gives vent tohis feelings with the remark that heads this chapter.

There is silence for a while, unbroken save by the crackle of blazinglogs and occasional rattle of driving sleet against the window-panes.It is the 5th of January (O.S.). I am at Tiflis, in the palace ofPrince Dondoukoff Korsakoff, Governor of the Caucasus, and at thepresent moment in that august personage's presence.

"Ceci non!" repeats the prince a second time, in answer to my request;adding impatiently, "They should know better in London than to sendyou to me. The War Minister in St. Petersburg alone has power to grantforeigners permission to visit Central Asia. You must apply to him,but let me first warn you that it is a long business. No"--after apause--"no; were I in your place I would go to Persia. It is a countryreplete with interest."

I know, from bitter experience of Russian officials, that furtherparley is useless. Making my bow with as good a grace as possibleunder the circumstances, I take leave of the governor and am escortedby an aide-de-camp, resplendent in white and gold, through innumerablevestibules, and down the great marble staircase, to where my sleighawaits me in the cutting north-easter and whirling snow. Glidingswiftly homewards along the now brilliantly lit boulevards, I realizefor the first time that mine has been but a wild-goose chase afterall; that, if India is to be reached by land, it is not _via_ Merv andCabul, but by way of Persia and Baluchistan.

The original scheme was a bold one, and I derive some consolation inthe thought that the journey would most probably have ended in defeat.This was the idea. From Tiflis to Baku, and across the Caspian toOuzoun Ada, the western terminus of the Trans-Caspian Railway. Thenceby rail to Merv and Bokhara, and from the latter city direct to India,_via_ Balkh and Cabul, Afghanistan. A more interesting journey canscarcely be conceived, but Fate and the Russian Government decreedthat it was not to be. Not only was I forbidden to use the railway,but (notwithstanding the highest recommendation from the RussianAmbassador in London) even to set foot in Trans-Caspia.

The old adage, "delay is dangerous," is never so true as when appliedto travel. The evening of my interview with the governor, I hadresolved, ere retiring to rest, to make for India _via_ Teheran.My route beyond that city was, perforce, left to chance, and theinformation I hoped to gain in the Shah's capital.

Tiflis, capital of the Caucasus, is about midway between the Blackand Caspian seas, and lies in a valley between two ranges of low butprecipitous hills. The river Kur, a narrow but swift and picturesquestream spanned by three bridges, bisects the city, which is divided inthree parts: the Russian town, European colony, and Asiatic quarter.The population of over a hundred thousand is indeed a mixed one.Although Georgians form its bulk, Persia contributes nearly a quarter,the rest being composed of Russians, Germans, French, Armenians,Greeks, Tartars, Circassians, Jews, Turks, and Heaven knows whatbesides. [B]

Tiflis is a city of contrasts. The principal boulevard, with itshandsome stone buildings and shops, tramways, gay cafes, and electriclight, would compare favourably with the Nevski Prospect in St.Petersburg, or almost any first-class European thoroughfare; and yet,almost within a stone's throw, is the Asiatic quarter, where thetraveller is apparently as far removed from Western civilization as inthe most remote part of Persia or Turkestan. The Armenian and Persianbazaars are perhaps the most interesting, I doubt whether the streetsof Yezd or Bokhara present so strange and picturesque a sight, suchvivid effects of movement and colour. Every race, every nationality,is represented, from the stalwart, ruddy-faced Russian soldier in flatwhite cap and olive-green tunic, to the grave, stately Arab merchantwith huge turban and white draperies, fresh from Bagdad orBussorah. Georgians and Circassians in scarlet tunics and silvercartridge-belts, Turks in fez and frock-coat, Greeks and Albanians insnowy petticoats and black gaiters, Khivans in furs and quaint conicallamb's-wool hats, Tartars from the Steppes, Turkomans from Merv,Parsees from Bombay, African negroes,--all may be seen in the TiflisBazaar during the busy part of the day.

But woe to the luckless European who, tempted by the beauty of theirwares, has dealings with the wily Persian merchant. There is a proverbin Tiflis that "It takes two Jews to rob an Armenian, two Armeniansto rob a Persian," and the "accursed Faringi" is mercilessly swindledwhenever he ventures upon a bargain.

With the exception of the aforesaid boulevard, the European quarter ofTiflis presents the same mixture of squalor and grandeur found in mostRussian towns, St. Petersburg not excepted. There is the same dead,drab look about the streets and houses, the same absence of colour,the same indescribable smell of mud, leather, and drainage, familiarto all who have visited Asiatic Russia. I had intended remaining acouple of days, at most, in Tiflis, but my stay was now indefinitelyprolonged. Such a severe winter had not been known for years. Themountain passes into Persia were reported impassable, and the line toBaku had for some days been blocked with snow.

My Russian Christmas (which falls, O.S., on our 6th of January) wasnot a cheerful one. A prisoner in a stuffy bedroom of the Hotel deLondres, I sat at the window most of the day, consuming innumerableglasses of tea and cigarettes, watching the steadily falling snow, andwondering whether the weather would ever clear and allow me to escapefrom a place so full of unpleasant associations, and which had broughtme so much disappointment and vexation. The loud laughter andbursts of song that ascended every now and then from the crowded_salle-a-manger_ (for the Hotel de Londres is the "Maison Doree" ofTiflis) only served to increase my depression and melancholy. Hadthere been a train available, I verily believe I should have taken aticket then and there, and returned to England!

But morning brings consolation in the shape of blue sky and dazzlingsunshine. The snow has ceased, apparently for good. Descendingto breakfast full of plans for the future, I find awaiting me anindividual destined to play an important part in these pages--oneGerome Realini, a Levantine Russian subject, well acquainted with thePersian language--who offers to accompany me to India as interpreter.His terms are moderate, and credentials first-rate. The latter includeone from Baker Pasha, with whom he served on the Turkoman frontierexpedition. More for the sake of a companion than anything else, Iclose with Gerome, who, though he does not understand one word ofEnglish, speaks French fluently.

There is a very natural prejudice against the Levantine race, but mynew acquaintance formed an exception to the rule. I never had reasonto regret my bargain; a better servant, pluckier traveller, orcheerier companion no man could wish for. Gerome had just returnedfrom a visit to Bokhara, and his accounts of Central Asia werecertainly not inviting. The Trans-Caspian railway was so badly laidthat trains frequently ran off the line. There was no arrangement forwater, travellers being frequently delayed three or four hours,while blocks of ice were melted for the boiler; while the so-calledfirst-class carriages were filthy, and crowded with vermin. Theadvance of Holy Russia had apparently not improved Merv, which hadbecome, since its annexation, a kind of inferior Port Said, a refugefor the scum, male and female, of St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Odessa.Drunkenness and debauchery reigned paramount. Low gambling-houses,_cafe chantants_, and less reputable establishments flourished underthe liberal patronage of the Russian officers, who, out of sheer_ennui_, ruined their pockets and constitutions with drunkenorgies, night and day. There was no order of any kind, no organizedpolice-force, and robberies and assassinations took place almostnightly. Small-pox was raging in the place when Gerome left it; also aloathsome disease called the "Bouton d'alep "--a painful boil which,oddly enough, always makes its appearance upon the body in oddnumbers, never in even. It is caused by drinking or washing inunboiled water. Though seldom fatal, there is no cure for thecomplaint but complete change of climate.

We now set about making preparations for the journey. Provisions,saddlery, both had to be thought of; and, having laid in a small stockof Liebig, tea, biscuits, chocolate, and cigarettes (for space waslimited), I proceeded, under Gerome's guidance, to purchase a saddle.Seventy-five roubles bought a capital one, including bridle. Here letme advise those visiting Persia to follow my example, and buy theirsaddlery in Tiflis. There is a heavy duty payable on foreign saddlesin Russia, and they are not one whit better, or indeed so well suitedto the purpose, as those made in the Caucasus.

One hears a deal, in Europe, of the beauty of the Circassian andGeorgian women. Although I remained in Tiflis over a week, I did notsee a single pretty woman among the natives. As in every Russian town,however, the "Moushtaid," or "Bois de Boulogne" of Tiflis, was daily,the theatre nightly, crowded with pretty faces of the dark-eyed,oval-faced Russian type. The new opera-house, a handsome building nearthe governor's palace, is not yet completed.

The Hotel de Londres was the favourite _rendezvous_ after the play.Here till the small hours assembled nightly the _elite_ of EuropeanTiflis. Russian and Georgian officers in gorgeous uniforms of darkgreen, gold lace, and astrachan; French and German merchants withtheir wives and daughters; with a sprinkling _demi-mondaines_ fromOdessa or Kharkoff, sipping tea or drinking kummel and "kaketi" at thelittle marble tables, and discussing the latest scandals. Kaketi, awine not unlike Carlowitz, is grown in considerable quantities inthe Caucasus. There are two kinds, red and white, but the former isconsidered the best. Though sound and good, it is cheap enough--onerouble the quart. Tobacco is also grown in small quantities in partsof Georgia and made into cigarettes, which are sold in Tiflis at threekopeks per hundred. But it is poor, rank stuff, and only smoked by thepeasantry and droshki-drivers.

[Illustration: TIFLIS]

Tiflis has a large and important garrison, but is not fortified. Itstopographical depot is one of the best in Russia, and I managed, notwithout some difficulty, to obtain from it maps of Afghanistan andBaluchistan. The latter I subsequently found better and far moreaccurate than any obtainable in England. The most insignificanthamlets and unimportant camel-tracks and wells were set down withextraordinary precision, especially those in the districts aroundKelat.

There is plenty of sport to be had round Tiflis. The shooting isfree excepting over certain tracts of country leased by the Tiflisshooting-club. Partridge, snipe, and woodcock abound, and there areplenty of deer and wild boar within easy distance of the capital. Ibexis also found in the higher mountain ranges. For this (if for no otherreason) Tiflis seems to be increasing in popularity every year forEuropean tourists. It is now an easy journey of little over a weekfrom England, with the advantage that one may travel by land the wholeway from Calais. This route is _via_ Berlin, Cracow, Kharkoff, andVladikavkas, and from the latter place by coach (through the DarielGorge) to Tiflis.

The purchase of a warm astrachan bonnet, a bourka, [C] and bashlik, [D]completed my outfit. It now consisted of two small portmanteaus (to bechanged at Teheran for saddle-bags), a common canvas sack for sleepingpurposes, and a brace of revolvers. Gerome was similarly accoutred,with the exception of the portmanteaus. My interpreter was evidentlynot luxuriously inclined, for his _impedimenta_ were all contained ina small black leather hand-bag! All being ready, eleven o'clock on thenight of the 12th of January found us standing on the platform of theTiflis railway station, awaiting the arrival of the Baku train, whichhad been delayed by a violent storm down the line.

I received a letter from the governor a few hours before my departure,wishing me _bon voyage_, and enclosing a document to ensure help andcivility from the officials throughout his dominions. It may seemungrateful, but I felt that I could well have dispensed with this,especially as I was leaving his Excellency's government at Baku, adistance of only ten hours by rail.

It was again snowing hard, and the east wind cut through my bourka asif it had been a thin linen jacket. Seeking shelter in the crowded,stuffy waiting-room, we solaced ourselves with cigarettes and vodkatill past 2 a.m., when the train arrived. Another delay of two hoursnow occurred, the engine having broken down; but the carriages, likethose of most Russian railways, were beautifully warmed, and we sleptsoundly, undisturbed by the howling of the wind and shouting ofrailway officials. When I awoke, we were swiftly rattling throughthe dreary monotonous steppe country that separates Tiflis from theCaspian Sea.

The Russians may, according to English ideas, be uncivilized in manyways, but they are undoubtedly far ahead of other European nations,with the exception perhaps of France, as regards railway travelling.Although the speed is slow, nothing is left undone, on the mostisolated lines, to ensure comfort, not to say luxury. Even in thisremote district the refreshment-rooms were far above the average inEngland. At Akstafa, for instance, a station surrounded by a howlingwilderness of steppe and marsh; well-cooked viands, game, pastry, andother delicacies, gladdened the eye, instead of the fly-blown bunsand petrified sandwiches only too familiar to the English railwaytraveller. The best railway buffet I have ever seen is at Tiumen, theterminus of the Oural railway, and actually in Siberia.

Railway travelling has, however, one drawback in this part ofRussia, which, though it does not upset the arrangements of a casualtraveller, must seriously inconvenience the natives--the distance ofstations from towns. We drank tea, a couple of hours or so beforearriving at Baku, at a station situated more than one hundredversts [E] from the town of its name. The inhabitants of the latterseldom availed themselves of the railway, but found it easier, exceptin very bad weather, to drive or ride to the Caspian port.

The dull wintry day wears slowly away, as we crawl along pastleague upon league of wild steppe land. The _coup d'oeil_ from ourcarriage-window is not inspiriting. It rests upon a bare, bleaklandscape, rolling away to the horizon, of waves of drab anddirty-green land, unbroken save for here and there a pool of stagnantwater, rotting in a fringe of sedge and rush, or an occasional flockof wild-fowl. At rare intervals we pass, close to the line, a Tartarencampment. Half a dozen dirty brown tents surrounded by horses,camels, and thin shivering cattle, the latter covered with coarsesack-clothing tied round their bellies to protect them from thecutting blast that sweeps from the coast across this land ofdesolation. None of the human population are visible, and no wonder.It must be cold enough outside. Even in this well-warmed compartmentone can barely keep feet and fingers from getting numbed.

I arrived in Baku on (the Russian) New Year's Eve, and found railwayofficials, porters, and droshki-drivers all more or less fuddled withdrink in consequence. With some difficulty we persuaded one of thelatter to drive us to the hotel, a clean and well-appointed house, astone's throw from the quay. Our Isvostchik [A] was very drunk. Hishorses, luckily for us, were quiet; for he fell off his box on theway, and smilingly, but firmly, declined to remount. Gerome thenpiloted the troika safely to our destination, leaving Jehu prone inthe mud.

Baku, a clean, well laid-out city of sixty thousand inhabitants, isthe most important town on the shores of the Caspian. Its name is saidto be derived from the Persian words _bad_, "the wind," and _kubeda_,"beaten," signifying "Wind-beaten;" and this seems credible, forviolent storms are prevalent along the coast. The town is essentiallyEuropean in character. One can scarcely realize that only fifty yearsago a tumble-down Persian settlement stood on the spot now occupiedby broad, well-paved, gas-lit streets, handsome stone buildings,warehouses, and shops. Baku has, like Tiflis, a mixed population.Although Russians and Tartars form its bulk, France, Germany, Italy,Greece, Turkey, and Persia are all represented, most of the Europeansbeing employed in the manufacture of petroleum. The naphtha springsare said to yield over 170,000 tons of oil yearly.

A French engineer, Mr. B----, whose acquaintance I made at the hotel,described Baku as terribly monotonous and depressing to live in aftera time. There is not a tree or sign of vegetation for miles round thetown--nothing but bleak, desolate steppe and marsh, unproductive ofsport and cultivation, or, indeed, of anything save miasma and fever.In summer the heat, dust, and flies are intolerable; in winter the sunis seldom seen. There is no amusement of any kind--no _cafe_, no band,no theatre, to go to after the day's work. This seemed to distress thepoor Parisian exile more than anything, more even than the smell ofoil, which, from the moment you enter until you leave Baku, there isno getting away from. Although the wells are fully three miles away,the table-cloths and napkins were saturated with it, and the veryfood one ate had a faint sickly flavour of naphtha. "I bathed in theCaspian once last summer," said Mr. B------, despairingly, "and didnot get the smell out of my skin for a week, during which time myfriends forbade me their houses! Mon Dieu! Quel pays!"

The steamer for Enzelli was to leave at eleven. Having wished myFrench friend farewell, and a speedy return to his native country, weset out for the quay. The night was fine, but away to our left denseclouds of thick black smoke obscured the lights of the town andstarlit sky, while the furnaces of the "Tchornigorod" [B] blazed outof the darkness, their flames reflected in the dark waters of theCaspian, turning the little harbour into a lake of fire.

The landing stage is crowded with passengers--a motley crowd ofRussian officials, soldiers, peasants, and Tartars. With difficulty westruggle through the noisy, drunken rabble, for the most part engagedin singing, cursing, fighting, and embracing by turns, and succeed atlast in finding our ship, the _Kaspia_, a small steamer of about ahundred and fifty tons burthen. The captain is, fortunately for us,sober, which is more than can be said of the crew. Alongside us liesthe _Bariatinsky_, a large paddle-steamer bound for Ouzounada, theterminus of the Trans-Caspian Railway. She also is on the point ofdeparture, and I notice, with relief, that most of the crowd aremaking their way on board her.

The passenger-steamers on the Caspian are the property of theCaucase-Mercure Company, a Russian firm. They are, with fewexceptions, as unseaworthy as they are comfortless, which says a greatdeal. All are of iron, and were built in England and Sweden, sent toSt. Petersburg by sea, there taken to pieces and despatched overlandto Nijni-Novgorod, on the Volga. At Nijni they were repieced and takendown the Volga to the Caspian.

The _Bariatinsky_ was first away, her decks crammed with soldiersbound for Central Asia. They treated us to a vocal concert as the shipleft port, and I paced the moonlit deck for some time, listening tothe sweet sad airs sung with the pathos and harmony that seems bornin every Russian, high or low. I retired to rest with the "MatoushkaVolga," a boat-song popular the length and breadth of Russia, ringingin my ears.

There are no private cabins on board the _Kaspia_. I share the stuffysaloon with a greasy German Jew (who insists on shutting all theportholes), an Armenian gentleman, his wife, and two squallingchildren, a Persian merchant, and Gerome.

The captain's cabin, a box-like retreat about eight feet square,leads out of our sleeping-place, which is also used as a drawing anddining-room. As the latter it is hardly desirable, for the German andPersian are both suffering violently from _mal-de-mer_ before wehave been two hours out, and no wonder. Though there is hardly aperceptible swell on, the tiny cock-boat rolls like a log. To makematters worse, the _Kaspia's_ engines are worked by petroleum, and thesmell pursues one everywhere.

The passage from Baku to Enzelli (the port of Resht) is usually madein a little over two days in _fine weather_. All depends upon thelatter, for no vessel can enter if it is blowing hard. There is adangerous bar with a depth of barely five feet of water across themouth of the harbour, and several Europeans, impatient of waiting,have been drowned when attempting to land in small boats. "Ifrequently have to take my passengers back to Baku," said CaptainZ---- at the meal he was pleased to call breakfast; "but I think weshall have fine weather to-morrow." I devoutly hoped so.

Little did I know what was in store for us; for the glass at middaywas falling-fast, and at 2 p.m., when we anchored off Lenkoran, itwas snowing hard and blowing half a gale.

The western coasts of the Caspian are flat and monotonous. There aretwo ports of call between Baku and Enzelli--Lenkoran, a dismal-lookingfishing-village of mud huts, backed by stunted poplars and a range oflow hills; and Astara, the Russo-Persian frontier. Trade did not seemvery brisk at either port. We neither landed nor took in cargo ateither. A few small boats came out to the ship with fish to sell. Thelatter is bad and tasteless in the Caspian, with the exception ofthe sturgeon, which abounds during certain seasons of the year. Thefisheries are nearly all leased by Russians, who extract and exportthe caviar. There is good shooting in the forests around Lenkoran, andtigers are occasionally met with. The large one in the possession ofPrince Dondoukoff Korsakoff, mentioned in the first chapter, was shotwithin a few miles of the place.

We arrived off Astara about 6.30 that evening. It was too dark to seeanything of the place, but I had, unfortunately for myself, plentyof opportunities of examining it minutely a couple of days later. Weweighed anchor again at nine o'clock, hoping, all being well, to reachEnzelli at daybreak. The sea had now gone down, and things looked morepromising.

My spirits rose at the thought of being able to land on the morrow. Iwas even able to do justice to the abominable food set before us atdinner--greasy sausages and a leathery beefsteak, served on dirtyplates and a ragged table-cloth that looked as if it had been used toclean the boiler. But the German Jew had recovered from his temporaryindisposition, the cadaverous Persian had disappeared on deck, andthe Armenian children had squalled themselves to sleep, so therewas something, at least, to be thankful for. Captain Z----, a tall,fair-haired Swede, who spoke English fluently, had been on this linefor many years, and told us that for dangerous navigation, violentsqualls, and thick fogs the Caspian has no equal. Many vessels arelost yearly and never heard of again. He also told us of a submarinecity some miles out of Baku, called by the natives "Tchortorgorod," or"City of the Devil." "In calm, sunny weather," said Z----, "one candistinctly make out the streets and houses." The German Jew, of afacetious disposition, asked him whether he had not also seen peoplewalking about; but Z---- treated the question with contemptuoussilence.

Man is doomed to disappointment. I woke at daylight next morning; tofind the _Kaspia_ at anchor, pitching, rolling, and tugging at hermoorings as if at any moment the cable might part. Every now and againa sea would crash upon the deck, and the wind, howling through therigging, sounded like the yelling of a thousand fiends. Hurrying ondeck, I learn the worst. A terrific sea is running, and the glassfalling every hour. One could scarcely discern, through the drivingmist, the long low shore and white line of breakers that marked theentrance to Enzelli. To land was out of the question. No boat wouldlive in such a sea. "I will lay-to till this evening," said CaptainZ---- "If it does not then abate, I fear you must make up your mindto return to Baku, and try again another day." A pleasant prospectindeed!

[Illustration: A DIRTY NIGHT IN THE CASPIAN]

I have seldom passed a more miserable twenty-four hours. The weathergot worse as the day wore on. Towards midday it commenced snowing; butthis, instead of diminishing the violence of the gale, seemed only toincrease it. Even the captain's cheery, ruddy face clouded over, as heowned that he did not like the look of things. "Had I another anchor,I should not mind," he said; calmly adding, "If this one parts, weare lost!" I thought, at the time, he might have kept this pieceof information to himself. Meanwhile nothing was visible from thecabin-windows but great rollers topped with crests of foam, whichlooked as if, every moment, they would engulf the little vessel. Butshe behaved splendidly. Although green seas were coming in over thebows, flooding her decks from stem to stern, and pouring down thegangway into the saloon, the _Kaspia_ rode through the gale like aduck. To venture on deck was impossible. One could barely sit, muchless stand, and the atmosphere of the saloon may be better imaginedthan described. Every aperture tightly closed; every one, with theexception of the captain, Gerome, and myself, sea-sick; no food, nofire, though we certainly did not miss the former much.

About ten o'clock Z---- weighed anchor and stood out to sea. It wouldnot be safe, he said, to trust to our slender cable another night.About midnight I struggled on deck, to get a breath of fresh airbefore turning in. The night was fine and clear, but the sea aroundblack as ink, with great foaming white rollers. The decks, a footdeep in snow, were deserted save by Z---- and the steersman, whosesilhouettes stood out black and distinct against the starlit sky asthey paced the rickety-looking little bridge flanked by red and greenlights. The Enzelli lighthouse was no longer visible. The latter isunder the care of Persians, who light it, or not, as the humour takesthem. This is, on dark nights, a source of considerable danger toshipping; but, though frequently remonstrated with by the RussianGovernment, the Shah does not trouble his head about the matter.

Three routes to Teheran were now open to us: back to Baku, thence toTiflis, and over the mountains to Talriz,--very dubious on account ofthe snow; the second, from Baku to Astrabad, and thence _via_ MountDemavend,--still more dubious on account of bad landing as well asblocked passes; there remained to us Astara, and along the sea-beach(no road) to Enzelli, with swollen rivers and no post-horses. Allthings considered, we resolved to land at Astara, even at the risk ofa ducking. Daylight found us there, anchored a mile from the shore,and a heavy swell running. But there is no bar here; only a shelvingsandy beach, on which, even in rough weather, there is littledanger. Some good-sized boats came out to the _Kaspia_ with fish andvegetables, and we at once resolved to land. Anything sooner thanreturn to Baku!

"There is no road from Astara," said Z----, "and deep rivers to cross.You will be robbed and murdered like the Italian who travelled thisway three years ago! He was the last European to do so."

Gerome remembers the incident. In fact, he says, the murdered man wasa friend of his, travelling to Teheran with a large sum of money.Unable to land at Resht, and impatient to reach his destination, hetook the unfrequented route, was waylaid, robbed, tied to a tree, andleft to starve. "He was alone and unarmed, though," says my companion;adding with a wink, "Let them try it on with us!"

It was a lovely day, and the blue sky and sunshine, singing of birds,and green of plain and forest, a pleasant relief to the eye and sensesafter the cold and misery of the past two days. Astara (though theport of Tabriz) is an insignificant place, its sole importance lyingin the fact that it is a frontier town. On one side of the narrowriver a collection of ramshackle mud huts, neglected gardens, foulsmells, beggars, and dogs--Persia; on the other, a score of neat stonehouses, well-kept roads and paths, flower-gardens, orchards, a prettychurch, and white fort surrounded by the inevitable black-and-whitesentry-boxes, guarded by a company of white-capped Cossacks--Russia. Icould not help realizing, on landing at Astara, the huge area of thisvast empire. How many thousand miles now separated me from the lastborder town of the Great White Czar that I visited--Kiakhta, on theRusso-Chinese frontier?

Surrounded by a ragged mob, we walked to the village to see abouthorses and a lodging for the night. The latter was soon found--aflat-roofed mud hut about thirty feet square, devoid of chimney orfurniture of any kind. The floor, cracked in several places, wascrawling with vermin, and the walls undermined with rat-holes; but inPersia one must not be particular. Leaving our baggage in the care ofone "Hassan," a bright-eyed, intelligent-looking lad, and instructinghim to prepare a meal, we made for the bazaar, a hundred yards away,through a morass, knee deep in mud and abomination of all kinds, toprocure food.

A row of thirty or forty mud huts composed the "bazaar," where, havingsucceeded in purchasing tea, bread, eggs, and caviar, we turned ourattention to horseflesh.

An old Jew having previously agreed to convert, at exorbitantinterest, our rouble notes into "sheis" and kerans, negotiations forhorses were then opened by Gerome, and, as the _patois_ spoken inAstara is a mixture of Turkish and Persian, with a little Tartarthrown in, his task was no easy one, especially as every one spoke atonce and at the top of their voices. We discovered at last that butfew of the villagers owned a horse, and those who did were veryunwilling to let the animal for such an uncertain journey. "Who isgoing to guarantee that the 'Farangis' will not steal it?" asked oneragged, wild-looking fellow in sheepskins and a huge lamb's-wool cap."Or get it stolen from them?" added another, with a grin. "They canhave my old grey mare for two hundred kerans, but you won't catch meletting her for hire," added a third.

With the aid of our friend, the Jew, however, we finally persuadedthe sheepskin gentleman (a native of Khiva) to change his mind. Afterconsiderable haggling as to price, he disappeared, to return with two ofthe sorriest steeds I ever set eyes on. "We ought to reach Enzelli inabout three days, if we do not get our throats cut," said the Khivan, whowas to accompany us, encouragingly.

Hassan had been busy in our absence; he had prepared an excellentpilaff, and sent to Russian Astara for some kaketi wine, which wasbrought over in a goatskin. This, with our own provisions bought inthe morning, furnished a substantial and much-needed meal. Persiannative bread is somewhat trying at first to a weak digestion. It isunleavened, baked in long thin strips, and is of suet-like consistency.The hut, like most native houses in Persia, had no chimney, the onlyoutlet for the smoke being through the narrow doorway. This necessitateslying flat on one's back in the clear narrow space between smoke andflooring, or being suffocated--a minor inconvenience as compared withothers in Persian travel.

The Khivan arrived with the horses at six next morning. By seveno'clock we were well on the road, which for the first ten miles or soled by the sea-shore, through dense thickets of brushwood, alternatingwith patches of loose drifting sand. I was agreeably disappointed inthe ponies; for though it was deep, heavy going, they stepped out welland freely. The clear sunshine, keen air, and lovely scenery seemed tohave the same inspiriting effect on them as on ourselves.

The _coup d'oeil_ was indeed a lovely one. To our right a gloriouspanorama of palm, forest, and river stretched away for miles, boundedon the horizon by a chain of lofty precipitous mountains, their snowypeaks white and dazzling against the deep cloudless blue, theirgrassy slopes and rocky ravines hidden, here and there, by grey mistsfloating lazily over depths of dark green forest at their feet. To ourleft broad yellow sands, streaked with seaweed and dark driftwood, andcold grey waters of the Caspian Sea--colourless and dead even underthis Mediterranean sky, and bringing one back, so to speak, from abeautiful dream to stern reality.

About midday we came to a broad but fordable river, which the Khivancalled the Chulamak. We all crossed in safety, notwithstanding thedeep holes our guide warned us against, and which, as the water wasthick and muddy, gave Gerome and myself some anxiety. The stream wasabout fifty yards across and much swollen by the snow. Landing on theother side ahead of my companions, I rode on alone, and presentlyfound myself floundering about girth-deep in a quicksand. It was onlywith great difficulty that we extricated the pony. These quicksandsare common on the shores of the Caspian, and natives, when travellingalone, have perished from this cause.

Nothing occurred worthy of notice till about 3 p.m., when we reachedthe river Djemnil. An arm of the sea more accurately describes thisstream, which is (or was at the time of which I write) over threehundred yards across. Here we had some difficulty with the Khivan,who was for encamping till morning. I, however, strongly objected tosleeping _a la belle etoile_, especially as the sky had now cloudedover, and it was beginning to snow. Partly by conciliation, partlyby threats, we at last persuaded him to make the attempt, followingclosely in his wake. It was nasty work. Twice our horses were carriedoff their feet by the strong current running out to sea (we wereonly a quarter of a mile from the mouth); and once we, or rather thehorses, had to swim for it; but we reached the opposite shore in underhalf an hour, wet and numbed to the waist, but safe. At seven we weresnugly housed for the night at Katvesera, a so-called village of threeor four mud hovels, selecting the best (outwardly) for our night'slodging. We were badly received by the natives. Neither money northreats would induce them to produce provisions of any kind, so wefell back on sticks of chocolate and Valentine's meat-juice. Thelatter I never travel without--it is invaluable in uncivilized anddesert countries.

The inhabitants of Katvesera are under a score in number, and livechiefly on fish, though I noticed in the morning that a considerablequantity of land was under cultivation--apparently rice and barley.They were a sullen, sulky lot, and we had almost to take the hutby force. The Khivan, Gerome, and myself took it in turns to watchthrough the night. It was near here that the Italian was assassinated.

A start was made at daybreak. The weather had now changed. A cuttingnorth-easter was blowing, accompanied with snow and sleet. We forded,about 11 a.m., the Kokajeri river, a mountain stream about thirtyyards wide, unfordable except upon the sea-beach. At midday we haltedat Tchergari, a fishing-village on the shores of the Caspian.

Tchergari contains about two hundred inhabitants, mostly fishermenemployed by a Russian firm. The houses, built of tree-trunks plasteredwith mud, had roofs of thatched reed, and were far more substantialand better built than any I had yet seen in Persia. Fearing areception like that of the previous evening, we had intended ridingstraight through the place to our destination for the night, when aEuropean advanced to meet us through the snow. Mr. V----, a Russian,and overseer of the fishery, had made his hut as comfortable ascircumstances would admit, and we were soon seated before a blazingfire (with a chimney!), discussing a plate of steaming shtchi, [C]washed down by a bottle of kaketi. Roast mutton and pastry followed,succeeded by coffee and vodka (for we had the good luck to arrive atour host's dinner-hour). By the time cigarettes were under way we feltfully equal to the long cold ride of fifteen miles that separated usfrom our night's halting-place, Alala Resht itself seemed at leastthirty miles nearer than it had before dinner.

"You are bold," said Mr. V----, in French, "to attempt this journeyat this time of year. I do not mean as regards footpads androbbers reports concerning them are always greatly exaggerated; butthe rivers are in a terrible state. There is one just beyond Alala,that I know you cannot cross on horseback. I will send a man on atonce to try and get a boat for you, and you can pull the horses afteryou. There is an Armenian at Alala, who will give you a lodgingto-night" Mr. V---- 's good fare and several glasses of vodkaconsiderably shortened our ride, and we arrived at Alala before dark,where a hearty welcome awaited us. Turning in after a pipe and twoor three glasses of tea, we slept soundly till time to start in themorning. The outlook from our snug resting-place was not inviting--thesky of a dirty grey, blowing hard, and snowing harder than ever.

Alala contains about eight hundred inhabitants. The land surroundingit is thickly cultivated with rice and tobacco. Neither are, however,exported in any quantity, the difficulties of transport to Astara orEnzelli being so great.

It is somewhat puzzling to a stranger to get at the names of places onthe southern shores of the Caspian. Most of the villages are knownby more than one, but Alala rejoices in as many _aliases_ as an oldgaol-bird, viz. Alala, Asalim, and Navarim.

Thanks to our Russian friend, a boat and a couple of men were awaitingus at the big river (I could not ascertain its name). Entering itourselves, we swam the horses over one by one. It took us the bestpart of two hours. Though only two hundred yards wide, they were offtheir legs nearly the whole way. What we should have done without Mr.V---- 's aid I know not.

Towards sundown the high tower of the Shah's palace at Enzelli camein sight. At last the neck of this weary journey was broken, andto-morrow, all being well, we should be at Resht. The road is winding,and it was not till past ten o'clock that we rode through the silent,deserted streets to the caravanserai, a filthier lodging than any wehad yet occupied. But, though devoured by vermin, I slept soundly,tired out with cold and fatigue. We dismissed the Khivan with asubstantial _pour-boire_. He had certainly behaved extremely well forone of his race.

Enzelli is an uninteresting place. It has but two objects of interest(in Persian eyes)--the lighthouse (occasionally lit) and a palace ofthe Shah, built a few years since as a _pied-a-terre_ for his Majestyon the occasion of his visits to Europe. It is a tawdry gimcrackedifice, painted bright blue, red, and green, in the worst possibletaste. The Shah, on returning from Europe last time, is said to haveremarked to his ministers on landing at Enzelli, "I have not seena single building in all Europe to compare with this!" Probablynot--from one point of view.

The Caspian may indeed be called a Russian lake, for although thewhole of its southern coast is Persian, the only Persian vesseltolerated upon it by Russia is the yacht of the Shah, a small steamer,the gift of the Caucase-Mercure Company, which lies off Enzelli. Eventhis vessel is only permitted to navigate in and about the waters ofthe Mourdab ("dead water"), a large lake, a kind of encroachment ofthe sea, eighteen to twenty miles broad, which separates Enzelli fromPeri-Bazar, the landing-place for Resht, four miles distant. Theimperial yacht did once get as far as Astara (presumably by mistake),but was immediately escorted back to Enzelli by a Russian cruiser.There is, however, a so-called Persian fleet--the steamship_Persepolis_, anchored off Bushire, in the Persian Gulf, and the_Susa_, which lies off Mohammerah. The former is about six hundredtons, and carries four Krupp guns; but the latter is little betterthan a steam-launch. Both have been at anchor for about four years,and are practically unseaworthy and useless.

We embarked at nine o'clock, in a boat pulled by eight men. Thecrossing of the Mourdab is at times impossible, owing to the heavysea; but this time luck was with us, and midday saw us at Peri-Bazar,where there is no difficulty in procuring riding-horses to take oneinto Resht. The country between the two places was formerly morass andjungle, but on the occasion of the Shah's visit to Europe about twentyyears ago, a carriage-road was made--not a good one, for such athing does not exist in Persia--but a very fair riding-track (in dryweather). We reached Resht wet to the skin, the snow having ceased andgiven way to a steady downpour of rain.

Resht bears the unpleasant reputation of being the most unhealthy cityin Persia. Its very name, say the natives, is derived from the word_rishta_, "death." "If you wish to die," says a proverb of Irak, "goto Resht!" The city, which had, at the beginning of the century, apopulation of over sixty thousand inhabitants, now has barely thirtythousand. This certainly looks as if there were some truth in theforegoing remarks; and there is no doubt that, on the visitation ofthe plague about ten years ago, the mortality was something frightful.A great percentage of deaths are ascribed to Resht fever--a terribledisease, due to the water and the exhalations from the marshessurrounding the city. It is certainly the dampest place in the world.The sun is seldom seen, and one's clothes, even on a dry, rainlessday, become saturated with moisture.

The town is, nevertheless, prettily situated in a well-wooded country.It would almost be imposing were it not for the heavy rains and dews,which cause a rapid decay of the buildings. The latter are mostly ofred brick and glazed tiles.

Resht is the depot for goods to and from Persia--chiefly silks.Tobacco is also grown in yearly increasing quantities. Several Russianfirms have opened here for the manufacture of cigarettes, which,though they may find favour among the natives, are too hot and coarsefor European tastes. They are well made and cheap enough--sevenpence ahundred.

In addition to the native population, Resht contains about fivehundred Armenians, and a score or so of Europeans. Among the latterare a Russian and a British vice-consul. To the residence of thelatter we repaired. Colonel Stewart's kindness and hospitality are abyword in Persia, and the Sunday of our arrival at Resht was truly aday of rest after the discomfort and privations we had undergone sinceleaving Baku.

[Footnote A: _Isvostchik_, a cab-driver.]

[Footnote B: "Tchornigorod," or "Black Town," so called from the smokethat hangs night and day over the oil-factories.]

[Footnote C: Russian cabbage-soup.]

CHAPTER III.

RESHT--PATCHINAR.

Day broke gloomily enough the morning following the day of our arrivalat Resht. The snow, still falling fast, lay over two feet deep inthe garden beneath my window, while great white drifts barred theentrance-gates of the Consulate. About eight o'clock our host made hisappearance, and, waking me from pleasant dreams of sunnier climes,tried to dissuade me from making a start under such unfavourablecircumstances. An imperial courier had just arrived from Teheran, andhis report was anything but reassuring. The roads were in a terriblestate; the Kharzan, a long and difficult pass, was blocked with snow,and the villages on either side of it crowded with weather-boundcaravans.

The prospect, viewed from a warm and comfortable bed, was notinviting. Anxiety, however, to reach Teheran and definitely map outmy route to India overcame everything, even the temptation to defer ajourney fraught with cold, hunger, and privation, and take it easy fora few days, with plenty of food and drink, to say nothing of cigars,books, and newspapers, in the snug cosy rooms of the Consulate. "Youwill be sorry for it to-morrow," said the colonel, as he left the roomto give the necessary orders for our departure; adding with a smile,"I suppose a wilful man must have his way."

There are two modes of travelling in Persia: marching with a caravan,a slow and tedious process; and riding post, or "chapar." The latter,being the quickest, is usually adopted by Europeans, but can onlybe done on the Government post-roads, of which there are five: fromTeheran to Resht, Tabriz, Meshed, Kerman, and the Persian Gulfport, Bushire. These so-called roads are, however, often merecaravan-tracks, sometimes totally hidden by drifting sand or snow.In the interior of the country the hard sun-baked soil is usuallytrackless, so that the aid of a "Shagird Chapar," or post-boy, becomesessential.

The distance between the "Chapar khanehs," as the tumble-down shedsdoing duty for post-houses are called, is generally five farsakhs, orabout twenty English miles; but the Persian farsakh is elastic, andwe often rode more, at other times less, than we paid for. Travel ischeap: one keran per farsakh (2-1/2_d_. a mile) per horse, with a_pour-boire_ of a couple of kerans to the "Shagird" at the end of thestage.

Given a good horse and fine weather, Persian travel would bedelightful; but the former is, unfortunately, very rarely met with.Most of the post-horses have been sold for some vice which nothing butconstant hard work will keep under. Kickers, rearers, jibbers, shyers,and stumblers are but too common, and falls of almost daily occurrenceon a long journey. Goodness knows how many Gerome and I had betweenResht and the Persian Gulf.

Notwithstanding these drawbacks, the speed attained by the wretchedhalf-starved animals is little short of marvellous. Nothing seemsto tire them. We averaged fifty miles a day after leaving Teheran,covering, on one occasion, over a hundred miles in a little overeleven hours. This is good work, considering the ponies seldom exceedfourteen hands two inches, and have to carry a couple of heavysaddle-bags in addition to their rider. Gerome must have ridden quitefourteen stone.

About ten o'clock the horses arrived, in charge of a miserable-lookingShagird, in rags and a huge lamb's-wool cap, the only warm thing abouthim. It was pitiful to see the poor wretch, with bare legs and feet,shivering and shaking in the cutting wind and snow. The ponies, too,looked tucked up and leg-weary, as if they had just come off a longstage (which, indeed, they probably had) instead of going on one.

"Don't be alarmed; they are the proverbial rum 'uns to look at," saidour host, who would not hear of our setting out without saddle-bagscrammed with good things: cold meat, sardines, cigarettes, a couple ofbottles of brandy, and a flask of Russian vodka. But for these we mustliterally have starved _en route_.

"Good-bye. Good luck to you!" from the colonel.

"En avant!" cries Gerome, with a deafening crack of his heavy chaparwhip. We are both provided with this instrument of torture--a thickplaited thong about five feet long, attached to a short thick woodenhandle, and terminating in a flat leathern cracker of eight or teninches. A cut from this would make an English horse jump out of hisskin, but had little or no effect on the tough hides of our "chapar"ponies. The snow is almost up to the knees of the latter as we labourthrough the gateway and into the narrow street. Where will it be onthe Kharzan Pass?

Resht is picturesquely situated. It must be a lovely place insummer-time, when fertile plains of maize, barley, and tobacco stretchaway on every side, bounded by belts of dark green forest and chainsof low well-wooded hills, while the post-road leads for miles throughgroves of mulberry trees, apple orchards, and garden-girt villas, halfhidden by roses and jasmine. But this was hardly a day for admiringthe beauties of nature. Once out of the suburbs and in the opencountry, nothing met the eye but a dreary wilderness of white earthand sullen grey sky, that boded ill for the future. The cold wasintense. Although dressed in the thickest of tweeds and sheepskinjacket, sable pelisse, enormous "bourka," and high felt boots, it wasall I could do to keep warm even when going at a hand gallop, variedevery hundred yards or so by a desperate "peck" on the part of mypony.

The first stage, Koudoum, five farsakhs from Resht, was reached aboutthree o'clock in the afternoon. This was my first experience of a Chaparkhaneh. The Shagird informed us that it was considered a very good one,and was much frequented by Europeans in summer-time--presumably,judging from the holes in the roof, for the sake of coolness. Let mehere give the reader a brief description of the accommodation providedfor travellers by his Imperial Majesty the Shah. The Koudoum Chaparkhaneh is a very fair example of the average Persian post-house.

Imagine a small one-storied building, whitewashed, save where windand rain have disclosed the brown mud beneath. A wooden ladder (withhalf the rungs missing) leads to the guest-chamber, a large bareroom, devoid of furniture of any kind, with smoke-blackened wallsand rotten, insecure flooring. A number of rats scamper away at ourapproach. I wonder what on earth they can find to eat, until Geromepoints out a large hole in the centre of the apartment. This affordsan excellent view of the stables, ten or twelve feet below, admitting,at the same time, a pungent and overpowering odour of manure andammonia. A smaller room, a kind of ante-chamber, leads out of this. Asit is partly roofless, I seek, but in vain, for a door to shut out theicy cold blast. Further search in the guest-room reveals six largewindows, or rather holes, for there are no shutters, much lesswindow-panes. It is colder here, if anything, than outside, for thedraughts are always at once; but we must in Persia be thankfulfor small mercies. There is a chimney, in which a good log fire,kindled by Gerome, is soon blazing.

Lunch and a nip of the colonel's vodka work wonders, and we arebeginning to think, over a "papirosh," that Persia is not such a badplace after all, when the Shagird's head appears at the window. Thereare only two horses available for the next stage, but a third has beensent for from a neighbouring village, and will shortly arrive. Asnight is falling fast, I set out with the Shagird for the nextstation, Rustemabad, leaving Gerome, who has already travelled theroad and knows it well, to follow alone.

It is still snowing fast, but my mount is a great improvement on thatof the morning, luckily, for the stage is a long one, and we have astiff mountain to climb before reaching our destination for the night.

We ride for three hours, slowly and silently, over a plain knee-deepin snow. About half-way across a tinkle of bells is heard, clear andmusical, in the distance. Presently a large caravan looms out of thedusk--fifty or sixty camels and half a dozen men. The latter exchangea cheery "Good night" with my guide. Slowly the ungainly, heavilyladen beasts file past us, gaunt and spectral in the twilight, thebells die away on the still wintry air, and we are again alone on thedesolate plain--not a sign of life, not a sound to be heard, butthe crunching of snow under our horses' feet, and the occasionalpistol-like crack of my guide's heavy whip.

It is almost dark when we commence the ascent of the mountain on thefar side of which lies Rustemabad. The path is rough and narrow, andin places hewn out of the solid rock. Towards the summit, where aslip or false step would be fatal, a dark shapeless mass appears,completely barring the pathway, on the white snow. Closer inspectionreveals a dead camel, abandoned, doubtless, by the caravan wehave just passed, for the carcase is yet warm. With considerabledifficulty, but aided by the hard slippery ground, we drag it to thebrink of the precipice, and send it crashing down through bush andbriar, to fall with a loud splash into a foaming torrent far below.During this performance one of the ponies gets loose, and half an houris lost in catching him again.

So the journey wore on. Half-way down on the other side of themountain, my pony stumbled and shot me head first into a pool ofliquid mud, from which I was, with some difficulty, extricated wetthrough and chilled to the bone. The discomfort was bad enough, but,worse still, my sable pelisse, the valuable gift of a Russian friend,was, I feared, utterly ruined.

It was nearly nine o'clock when we reached Rustemabad, to find ratherworse quarters than we had left at Koudoum. To make matters worse,I had no change of clothes, and the black, ill-smelling mud hadpenetrated to the innermost recesses of my saddle-bags, which didnot tend to improve the flavour of the biscuits and chocolate thatconstituted my evening meal. No food of any kind was procurable atthe post-house, and all our own provisions were behind with Gerome.Luckily, I had stuck to the flask of vodka!

With the help of the postmaster, a decrepit, half-witted old man, andthe sole inmate of the place, I managed to kindle a good fire, and setto work to dry my clothes, a somewhat uncomfortable process, as itentailed my remaining three-parts naked for half the night in anatmosphere very little above zero. The sables were in a terriblestate. It was midnight before the mud on them was sufficiently dry tobrush off, as I fondly hoped, in the morning.

Gerome did not turn up till one o'clock a.m., his horse not havingarrived at Koudoum till past seven. He had lost his way twice, and hadalmost given up all hopes of reaching Rustemabad till daylight, whenmy fire, the only light in the place, shone out of the darkness. Thepoor fellow was so stiff and numbed with fatigue and cold that I hadto lift him off his horse and carry him into the post-house. He wasa sorry object, but I could not refrain from smiling. My companion'susually comical, ruddy face wore a woebegone look, while longicicles hung from his hair, eyebrows, and moustaches, giving him theappearance of a very melancholy old Father Christmas.

Morning brought a cloudless blue sky and brilliant sunshine. My firstthought on awaking was for the pelisse. Summoning the old postmaster,I confided the precious garment to him, with strict injunctions totake it outside, beat it well with a stick, and bring it back to me tobrush. In the mean time, we busied ourselves with breakfast and acup of steaming cocoa, for a long ride was before us. It was stillbitterly cold, with a strong north-easter blowing. The thermometermarked (in the sun) only one degree above zero.

Rustemabad, a collection of straggling, tumble-down hovels, containsabout four or five hundred inhabitants. The post-house, perched onthe summit of a steep hill, is situated some little distance fromthe village, which stands in the centre of a plateau, bounded on thesouth-west by a chain of precipitous mountains. The country around isfertile and productive, being well watered by the Sefid Roud (WhiteRiver). Rice is largely grown, but to-day not a trace of vegetation isvisible; nothing but the vast white plain, smooth and unbroken, savewhere, here and there, a brown village blurrs its smooth surface, anoasis of mud huts in this desert of dazzling snow.

An exclamation from Gerome suddenly drew my attention to thepostmaster, who stood at the open doorway, my pelisse in hand. I wasthen unused to the ways and customs of the Persian peasantry, orshould have known that it was but labour lost to make one spring atthe old idiot, and, twining my fingers in his throat, shake him tillhe yelled for mercy. Nothing but a thick stick has the slightesteffect upon the Shah's subjects; and I was, for a moment, sorelytempted to use mine. The reader must own that I should have beenjustified. It was surely enough to try the patience of a saint, forthe old imbecile had deliberately walked down to the river, madea hole in the ice, and soaked the garment in water to the waist,reducing it to its former condition of liquid slime. This was _his_method of getting the mud off. I may add that this intelligentofficial had _assisted me in the drying process up till midnight_.

There was no help for it; nothing to be done but cut off the damagedportion from the waist to the heels--no easy matter, for it was frozenas stiff as a board. "It will make a better riding-jacket now," saidGerome, consolingly; "but this son of a pig shall not gain by it," headded, stamping the ruined remains into the now expiring fire.

The village of Patchinar, at the foot of the dreaded Kharzan Pass, wasto be our halting-place for the night. The post-road, after leavingRustemabad, leads through the valley of the Sefid Roud river, inwhich, by the way, there is excellent salmon-fishing. About six milesfrom Rustemabad is a spot called by the natives the "Castle of theWinds," on account of the high winds that, even in the calmestweather, prevail there. Although, out on the plain, there was ascarcely perceptible breeze, we had to literally fight our way againstthe terrific gusts that swept through this narrow gorge. Fortunately,it was a fine day, but the fine powdery snow whirled up and cut intoour eyes and faces, and made travelling very unpleasant.

These violent wind-storms have never been satisfactorily accountedfor. They continue for a certain number of hours every day, summerand winter, increasing in force till sunset, when they abate, to riseagain the following dawn. On some occasions horses, and even camels,have been blown over, and caravans are sometimes compelled to haltuntil the fury of the storm has diminished.

Crossing a ridge of low hills, we descended into the valley ofRoudbar, a quiet and peaceful contrast to the one we had just left.The wind now ceased as if by magic. Much of the snow had heredisappeared under the warm sunshine, while before us, nestling ina grove of olive trees, lay the pretty village, with its whitepicturesque houses and narrow streets shaded by gaily striped awnings.It was like a transformation-scene, this sudden change from winter,with its grey sky and cold icy blast, to the sunny stillness andrepose of an English summer's day. We rode through the bazaar, a busyand crowded one for so small a place. A large trade is done here inolives. Most of it is in the hands of two enterprising Frenchmen, whostarted business some years ago, and are doing well.

We managed to get a mouthful of food at Menjil while the horses werebeing changed.

Colonel S---- had especially warned us against sleeping here, theChapar khaneh being infested with the Meana bug, a species of cameltick, which inflicts a poisonous and sometimes dangerous wound. It isonly found in certain districts, and rarely met with south of Teheran.The virus has been known, in some cases, to bring on typhoid fever,and one European is said to have died from its effects. For the truthof this I cannot vouch; but there is no doubt that the bite is alwaysfollowed by three or four days' more or less serious indisposition.

CHAPTER IV.

PATCHINAR--TEHERAN.

Our troubles commenced in real earnest at Patchinar, adesolate-looking place and filthy post-house, which was reached atsunset. The post from Teheran had just arrived, in charge of atall strapping fellow armed to the teeth, in dark blue uniform andastrachan cap, bearing the Imperial badge, the lion and sun, in brass.The mail was ten days late, and had met with terrible weather on theKharzan. They had passed, only that morning, two men lying by theroadway, frozen to death. The poor fellows were on their way toTeheran from Menjil, and had lain where they fell for two or threedays. "You had far better have remained at Resht," added ourinformant, unpleasantly recalling to my mind the colonel's prophecy,"You will be sorry for this to-morrow!"

Notwithstanding hunger and vermin, we managed to enjoy a tolerablenight's rest. The post-house was warm at any rate, being windowless.Patchinar was evidently a favourite halting-place, for the dingy wallsof the guest-room were covered with writing and pencil sketches, thework of travellers trying to kill time, from the Frenchman whowarned one (in rhyme) to beware of the thieving propensities of thepostmaster, to the more practical Englishman, who, in a bold hand,had scrawled across the wall, "_Big bugs here!_" I may add that mycountryman was not exaggerating.

There was no difficulty in getting horses the next morning. The post,which left for Resht before we were stirring, had left us sevensorry-looking steeds, worn out with their previous day's journeythrough the deep snow-drifts of the Kharzan. By nine o'clock we wereready to start, notwithstanding the entreaties of the postmaster,whose anxiety, however, was not on our account, but on that of thehorses.

"I don't believe I shall ever see them again!" he mumbled mournfully,as we rode out of the yard. "And who is to repay me for their loss?You will be dead, too, before sundown, if the snow catches you in themountains!"

But there seemed no probability of such a contingency. The sky wasblue and cloudless, the sun so bright that the glare off the snow soonbecame unbearable without smoked goggles. The promise of an extrakeran or two if we reached the end of the stage by daylight had awonderful effect on the Shagird. Though it was terribly heavy going,and the snow in places up to our girths, we covered the five mileslying between Patchinar and the foot of the Kharzan in a little overthree hours--good going considering the state of the road. We were asoften off the former as on it, for there was nothing to guide one;nothing but telegraph poles and wires were visible, and these areoccasionally laid straight across country away from the track.

Our destination for the night was the village of Kharzan, which issituated near the summit of the mountain, about six thousand feethigh. The ascent is continuous and precipitous. An idea may be gainedof the steepness by the fact that we now left the valley of the ShahRoud, barely one thousand feet above sea-level, to ascend, in adistance of about twelve miles, over six thousand feet.

The Kharzan Pass is at all times dreaded by travellers, native andEuropean, even in summer, when there are no avalanches to fear,snow-drifts to bar the way, or ice to render the narrow, tortuouspathway even more insecure. A serious inconvenience, not to saydanger, is the meeting of two camel caravans travelling in oppositedirections on the narrow track, which, in many places, is barely tenfeet broad, and barely sufficient to allow two horses to pass eachother, to say nothing of heavily laden camels. But to-day we were safeso far as this was concerned. Not a soul was to be seen in the cleftsand ravines around, or on the great white expanse stretched outbeneath our feet, as we crept cautiously up the side of the mountain,our guide halting every ten or fifteen yards to probe the snow with along pole and make sure that we had not got off the path.

A stiff and tedious climb of nearly seven hours brought us to within amile of the summit. Halting for a short time, we refreshed ourselveswith a couple of biscuits and a nip of brandy, and proceeded on ourjourney. We had now arrived at the most dangerous part of the pass.The pathway, hewn out of the solid rock, and about ten feet wide, wascovered with a solid layer of ice eight or ten inches thick, overwhich our horses skated about in a most uncomfortable manner. Therewas no guard-rail or protection of any sort on the precipice side. Allwent well for a time, and I was beginning to congratulate myself onhaving reached the summit without-accident, when Gerdme's horse, justin front of me, blundered and nearly lit on his head. "Ah, son of apig's mother!" yelled the little Russian in true Cossack vernacular,as the poor old screw, thoroughly done up, made a desperate peck,ending in a slither that brought him to within a foot of the brink."That was a close shave, monsieur!" he continued, as his ponystruggled back into safety, "I shall get off and walk. Wet feet arebetter than a broken neck any day!"

The words were scarcely out of his mouth, when a loud cry fromthe Shagird, and a snort and struggle from the pack-horse behind,attracted my attention. This time the beast had slipped with avengeance, and was half-way over the edge, making, with his forefeet, frantic efforts to regain _terra firma_ while his hind legs andquarters dangled in mid-air. There was no time to dismount and renderassistance. The whole thing was over in less than ten seconds. TheShagird might, indeed, have saved the fall had he kept his headinstead of losing it. All he could do was, with a loud voice andoutstretched arms, to invoke the assistance of "Allah!" We were notlong in suspense. Slowly, inch by inch, the poor brute lost his holdof the slippery ground, and disappeared, with a shrill neigh ofterror, from sight. For two or three seconds we heard him strikinghere and there against a jutting rock or shrub, till, with a finalthud, he landed on a small plateau of deep snow-drifts at leastthree hundred feet below. Here he lay motionless and apparentlydead, while we could see through our glasses a thin stream ofcrimson flow from under him, gradually staining the white snowaround.

[Illustration: CROSSING THE KHADZAN]

A cat is popularly supposed to have nine lives. After my experienceof the Persian post-horse, I shall never believe that that rough andill-shaped but useful animal has less than a dozen. The fall Ihave described would assuredly have killed a horse of any othernationality, if I may use the word. It seemed, on the contrary, tohave a tonic and exhilarating effect on this Patchinar pony. Before wecould reach him (a work of considerable difficulty and some risk) hehad risen to his feet, given himself a good shake, and was nibblingaway at a bit of gorse that peeped through the snow on which he hadfallen. A deep cut on the shoulder was his only injury, and, curiouslyenough, our portmanteaus, with the exception of a broken strap, wereunharmed. There was, luckily, nothing breakable in either.

Kharzan, a miserable village under snow for six months of the year,was reached without further mishap. There is no post-house, and thecaravanserai was crowded with caravans. Before sundown, however, wewere comfortably installed in the house of the head-man of the place,who spread carpets of soft texture and quaint design in our honour,regaled us with an excellent "pilaff," and produced a flask of Persianwine. The latter would hardly have passed muster in Europe. The corkconsisted of a plug of cotton-wool plastered with clay; the contentswere of a muddy-brown colour. "It is pure Hamadan," said our host withpride, as he placed the bottle before us. "Perhaps the sahib did notknow that our country is famous for its wines." It was not altogetherunpalatable, something like light but rather sweet hock; verydifferent, however, in its effects to that innocent beverage, and onecould not drink much with impunity. Its cheapness surprised me:one shilling a quart bottle. That, at least, is the price our hostcharged--probably more than half again its real value.

The winegrowers of Hamadan have many difficulties to contend with;among others, the severe cold. In winter the wine is kept in hugejars, containing six or seven hundred bottles. These are buried inthe ground, their necks being surrounded by hot beds of fermentinghorse-dung, to keep the wine from freezing. But even this plansometimes fails, and it has to be chopped out in solid blocks andmelted for drinking.

Kharzan has a population of about a thousand inhabitants. It was herethat Baker Pasha was brought some years ago in a dying condition,after being caught in a wind-storm on the Kharzan Pass, and lay forthree days in the house we were lodging at. Our old friend showed us aclasp-knife presented him by the colonel, who on that occasion nearlylost both his feet from frost-bite. Captains Gill and Clayton, [A] ofthe Royal Engineers and Ninth Lancers, were with him, but escapedunharmed.

Stiff and worn out with the events of the day, we soon stretchedourselves in front of the blazing fire in anticipation of a goodnight's rest; but sleep was not for us. In the next room were a partyof Persian merchants from Astrakhan on their way to Bagdad _via_Teheran, who had been prisoners here for five days, and were nowcarousing on the strength of getting away on the morrow. A woman waswith them--a brazen-faced, shrill-voiced Armenian, who made more noisethan all the rest put together. Singing, dancing, quarrelling, anddrinking went on without intermission till long past midnight, ourneighbours raising such a din that the good people of Kharzan, aquarter of a mile away, must have turned uneasily in their slumbers,and wondered whether an army of fiends had not broken loose. Towards 1a.m. the noise ceased, and we were just dropping to sleep, when, atabout half-past two in the morning, our drunken friends, headed by thelady, burst into our apartment, with the information, in bad Russian,that a gang of fifty men sent that morning to clear a path throughthe deep snow had just returned, and the road to Mazreh was nowpracticable. The caravans would be starting in an hour, theyadded. "And you'd better travel with them," joined in the lady,contemptuously, "or you will be sure to get into trouble byyourselves." A reply more forcible than polite from Gerome thencleared the apartment; and, rekindling the now expiring embers, weprepared for the road.

We set out at dawn for the gate of the village, where the caravanswere to assemble. It was still freezing hard, and the narrow streetslike sheets of solid ice, so that our horses kept their legs withdifficulty. We must have numbered fifty or sixty camels, and as manymules and horses, all heavily laden.

Daybreak disclosed a weird, beautiful scene: a sea of snow, over whichthe rising sun threw countless effects of light and colour, from thecold slate grey immediately around us, gradually lightening to thefaintest tints of rose and gold on the eastern horizon, where starswere paling in a cloudless sky. Portrayed on canvas, the picture wouldhave looked unnatural, so brilliant were the hues thrown by the risingsun over the land-, or rather snow-scape. The cold, though intense,was not unbearable, for there was fortunately no wind, and the spiritsrose with the crisp, bracing air, brilliant sunshine, and jangle ofcaravan bells, as one realized that Teheran was now well within reach,and the dreaded Kharzan a thing of the past. Gerome gave vent to hisfeelings with a succession of roulades and operatic airs; for mylittle friend had a very good opinion of his vocal powers, which I,unfortunately, did not share. But he was a cheery, indefatigablecreature, and of indomitable pluck, and one gladly forgave him this,his only failing.

It was terribly hard work all that morning, and Gerome had four, Ithree, falls, on one occasion wrenching my right ankle badly. Someof the drifts through which we rode must have been at least ten orfifteen feet deep. Some tough faggots thrown over these afforded afooting, or we should never have got over. Towards midday Mazrehwas sighted; and we pushed on ahead, leaving the caravan to its owndevices. The going was now better, and it was soon far behind us, theonly object visible from the low hills which we now ascended, thecamels and mules looking, from this distance, like flies crawling overa huge white sheet.

Lunch at Mazreh consisted of damp, mouldy bread, and some sweet,sickly liquid the postmaster called tea. Procuring fresh horseswithout difficulty, we set out about 3 p.m. for Kazvin. It was nottill 10 p.m. that we were riding through the great gate of that city,which the soldier on guard consented, with some demur, to open.

Kazvin boasts a hotel and a boulevard! The latter is lit by a dozenoil-lamps; the former, though a palatial building of brick, withverandahs and good rooms, is left to darkness and the rats in theabsence of travellers. Having groped our way for half an hour or soabout a labyrinth of dark, narrow streets, we presently emerged on thedimly lit boulevard (three of the oil-lamps had gone out), and rodeup to the melancholy looking hostelry at the end. Failing to obtainadmission, we burst open the door, and made ourselves as comfortableas circumstances would allow. Food was out of the question; drink,saving some villainous raki of Gerome's, also; but there was plentyof firewood, and we soon had a good fire in the grate. This hotelwas originally built by the Shah for the convenience of himselfand ministers when on his way to Europe. It is only on these rareoccasions that the barn-like building is put in order. Visions offormer luxury were still visible in our bedroom in the shape of abedstead, toilet-table, and looking-glass. "But we can't eat _them_!"said Gerome, mournfully.

Kazvin, which now has a population of 30,000, has seen better days. Itwas once capital of Persia, with 120,000 inhabitants. Strolling out inthe morning before breakfast, I found it well and regularly built, andsurrounded by a mud wall, with several gates of beautiful mosaic, nowmuch chipped and defaced.

Being the junction of the roads from Tabriz on the west, and Resht onthe north to the capital, is now Kazvin's sole importance. The road toTeheran was made some years ago at enormous expense by the Shah; butit has now, in true Persian style, been left to fall into decay. It isonly in the finest and driest weather that the journey can be made onwheels, and this was naturally out of the question for us. Arailway was mooted some time since along this, the only respectablecarriage-road in Persia--but the project was soon abandoned.

The post-houses, however, are a great improvement on any in otherparts of the country. At Kishlak, for instance, we found a substantialbrick building with a large guest-room, down the centre of which rana long table with spotless table-cloth, spread out with platesof biscuits, apples, nuts, pears, dried fruits, and sweetmeats,beautifully decorated with gold and silver paper, and at intervalsdecanters of water--rather cold fare with the thermometer at a fewdegrees above zero. The fruits and biscuits were shrivelled andtasteless, having evidently been there some months. It reminded me ofa children's doll dinner-party. With the exception of these Barmecidefeasts and some straw-flavoured eggs, there was nothing substantial tobe got in any of the post-houses till we reached our destination.

About four o'clock on the 27th we first sighted the white peak ofMount Demavend, and by three o'clock next day were within sight of thedingy brown walls, mud houses, and white minarets of the city of theShah--Teheran.

[Footnote A: Both have since met violent deaths. Captain Gill wasmurdered by natives with Professor Palmer near Suez, and CaptainClayton killed while playing polo in India.]

But it was not without serious misgivings that I accepted thecourteous invitation of the German Embassy. The crossing of theKharzan had not improved the appearance of dress-clothes and shirts,to say nothing of my eyes being in the condition described bypugilists as "bunged up," my face of the hue of a boiled lobster, theeffects of sun and snow.

One is struck, on entering Teheran, with the apparent cleanliness ofthe place as compared with other Oriental towns. The absence of heapsof refuse, cess-pools, open drains, and bad smells is remarkable toone accustomed to Eastern cities; but this was perhaps, at the time ofmy visit, due to the pure rarified atmosphere, the keen frosty air, ofwinter. Teheran in January, with its cold bracing climate, and Teheranin June, with the thermometer above ninety in the shade, are two verydifferent things; and the town is so unhealthy in summer, that allEuropeans who can afford to do so live on the hills around thecapital.

The environs are not picturesque. They have been likened to those ofMadrid, having the same brown calcined soil, the same absence of treesand vegetation. The city, viewed from outside the walls, is ugly andinsignificant, and, on a dull day, indistinguishable at no greatdistance. In clear weather, however, the beehive-like dwellings andrumbling ramparts stand out in bold relief against a background ofblue sky and dazzling snow-mountains, over which towers, in solitarygrandeur, the peak of Mount Demavend, [A] an extinct volcano, over20,000 feet high, the summit of which is reported by natives to behaunted. The ascent is gradual and easy, and has frequently been madeby Europeans.

Teheran is divided into two parts--the old city and the new. In theformer, inhabited only by natives, the streets are narrow, dark, andtortuous, leading at intervals into large squares with deep tanks ofrunning water in the centre. The latter are characteristic of Persia,and have in summer a deliciously cool appearance, the coping of thefountain being only an inch or so in height, and the water almostflush with the ground. The new, or European quarter, is bisected bya broad tree-lined thoroughfare, aptly named the "Boulevard desAmbassadeurs," for here are the legations of England, France, andGermany. The Russian Embassy, a poor building in comparison withthe others, stands in another part of the town. Hard by the EnglishEmbassy is the Hotel Prevot, kept by a Frenchman of that name, onceconfectioner-in-chief to his Majesty the Shah. Here we took up ourquarters during our stay in the capital.

At the extremity of the Boulevard des Ambassadeurs is the "Place desCanons," so called from the old and useless cannon of various agesthat surround it. The square is formed by low barn-like barracks,their whitewashed walls decorated with gaudy and rudely drawn picturesof Persian soldiers and horses. Beyond this again, and approached byan avenue of poplar trees, lit by electric light, is the palace of theShah, with nothing to indicate the presence in town of the sovereignbut a guard of ragged-looking, unkempt Persians in Russian uniformlounging about the principal gateway.

The Persian soldier is not a credit to his country. Although drilledand commanded by European officers, he is a slouching, awkward fellow,badly paid, ill fed, and not renowned for bravery. The ordinaryinfantry uniform consists of a dark-blue tunic and trousers with redfacings, and a high astrachan busby with the brass badge of the lionand sun. To a stranger, however, the varied and grotesque costumesin which these clowns are put by their imperial master is somewhatconfusing. One may see, for instance, Russian cossacks, Frenchchasseurs, German uhlans, and Austrian cuirassiers incongruously mixedup together in the ranks on parade. His army is the Shah's favouritetoy, and nothing affords the eccentric monarch so much amusement asconstant change of uniform. As the latter are manufactured in and sentout from the countries they represent, the expense to the state isconsiderable.

The first Europeans to instruct this rabble were Frenchmen, butEngland, Russia, Germany, and Austria have all supplied officers andinstructors within the past fifty years, without, however, anygood result. Although the arsenal at Teheran is full of the latestimprovements in guns and magazine rifles, these are kept locked up,and only for show, the old Brown Bess alone being used. The Cossackregiment always stationed at Teheran, ostensibly for the protection ofthe Shah, and officered by Russians, is the only one with any attemptat discipline or order, and is armed with the Berdan rifle.

The Teheran bazaar is, at first sight, commonplace and uninteresting.Though of enormous extent (it contains in the daytime over thirtythousand souls), it lacks the picturesque Oriental appearance of thoseof Cairo or Constantinople, where costly and beautiful wares are setout in tempting array before the eyes of the unwary stranger. Herethey are kept in the background, and a European must remain inthe place for a couple of months or so, and make friends with themerchants, before he be even permitted to see them. The position isreversed. At Stamboul the stranger is pestered and worried to buy;at Teheran one must sometimes entreat before being allowed even toinspect the contents of a silk or jewel stall. Even then, the ownerwill probably remain supremely indifferent as to whether the "Farangi"purchase or not. This fact is curious. It will probably disappear withthe advance of civilization and Mr. Cook.

[Illustration: TEHERAN]

Debouching from the principal streets or alleys of the bazaar, whichis of brick, are large covered caravanserais, or open spaces for thestorage of goods, where the wholesale merchants have theirwarehouses. The architecture of some of these caravanserais is veryfine. The cool, quiet halls, their domed roofs, embellished withdelicate stone carving, and blue, white, and yellow tiles, dimlyreflected in the inevitable marble tank of clear water below, area pleasant retreat from the stifling alleys and sun-baked streets.Talking of tanks, there seems to be no lack of water in Teheran. I wassurprised at this, for there are few countries so deficient in thisessential commodity as Persia. It is, I found, artificially suppliedby "connaughts," or subterranean aqueducts flowing from mountainstreams, which are practically inexhaustible. In order to keep astraight line, shafts are dug every fifty yards or so, and the earththrown out of the shaft forms a mound, which is not removed. Thusa Persian landscape, dotted with hundreds of these hillocks, oftenresembles a field full of huge ant-hills. The mouths of these shafts,left open and unprotected, are a source of great danger to travellersby night. Teheran is provided with thirty or forty of these aqueducts,which were constructed by the Government some years ago at enormousexpense and labour.

As in most Eastern cities, each trade has its separate alley orthoroughfare in the Teheran bazaar. Thus of jewellers, silk mercers,tailors, gunsmiths, saddlers, coppersmiths, and the rest, eachhave their separate arcade. The shops or stalls are much alike inappearance, though they vary considerably in size. Behind a brickplatform, about three feet wide and two feet in height, is the shop,a vaulted archway, in the middle of which, surrounded by his wares,kalyan [B] or cigarette in mouth, squats the shopkeeper. There are nowindows. At night a few rough boards and a rough Russian padlock arethe sole protection, saving a smaller apartment at the back of eachstall, a kind of strong-room, guarded by massive iron-bound doors,in which the most valuable goods are kept. There is no attempt atdecoration; a few only of the jewellers' shops are whitewashed inside,the best being hung with the cheapest and gaudiest of French or Germancoloured prints. The stalls are usually opened about 6.30 a.m., andclosed at sunset. An hour later the bazaar is untenanted, save forthe watchmen and pariah dogs. The latter are seen throughout the day,sleeping in holes and corners, many of them almost torn to pieces fromnightly encounters, and kicked about, even by children, with impunity.It is only at night that the brutes become really dangerous, and when,in packs of from twenty to thirty, they have been known to attack andkill men. Occasionally the dogs of one quarter of the bazaar attackthose of another, and desperate fights ensue, the killed and woundedbeing afterwards eaten by the victors. It is, therefore, unsafe toventure out in the streets of Teheran after dark without a lantern andgood stout cudgel.

From 11 to 12 a.m. is perhaps the busiest part of the day in thebazaar. Then is one most struck with the varied and picturesque typesof Oriental humanity, the continuously changing kaleidoscope ofnative races from Archangel to the Persian Gulf, the Baltic Sea toAfghanistan.

Nor are contrasts wanting. Here is Ivanoff from Odessa or Tiflis, inthe white peaked cap and high boots dear to every Russian, hagglingover the price of a carpet with Ali Mahomet of Bokhara; thereChung-Yang, who has drifted here from Pekin through Siberia, with acargo of worthless tea, vainly endeavouring to palm it off on thatgrave-looking Parsee, who, unfortunately for the Celestial, is notquite such a fool as he looks. Such a hubbub never was heard.Every one is talking or shouting at the top of their voices, womenscreaming, beggars whining, fruit and water sellers jingling theircymbals, while from the coppersmiths' quarter hard by comes adeafening accompaniment in the shape of beaten metal. Occasionally acaravan of laden camels stalk gravely through the alleys, scatteringthe yelling crowd right and left, only to reassemble the moment it haspassed, like water in the wake of a ship. Again it separates, and asedan, preceded by a couple of gholams with long wands, is carriedby, and one gets a momentary glimpse of a pair of dark eyes andhenna-stained finger-tips, as a fair one from the "anderoon" [C]of some great man is carried to her jeweller's or perfumer's. The"yashmak" is getting very thin in these countries, and one can form avery fair estimate of the lady's features (singularly plain ones) asthe sedan swings by. Towards midday business is suspended for a while,and the alleys of the bazaar empty as if by magic. For nearly a wholehour silence, unbroken save by the snarling of some pariah dog, thehiss of the samovar, and gurgle of the kalyan, falls over the place,till 2 p.m., when the noise recommences as suddenly as it ceased, andcontinues unbroken till sunset.

On the whole, the bazaar is disappointing. The stalls for the sale ofPersian and Central Asian carpets, old brocades and tapestries, andother wares dear to the lover of Eastern art, are in the minority,and must be hunted out. Manchester goods, cheap calicoes and prints,German cutlery, and Birmingham ware are found readily enough, and formthe stock of two-thirds of the shops in the carpet and silk-mercers'arcade.

It is by no means easy to find one's way about. No one understandsa word of English, French, or German, and had it not been for myknowledge of Russian--which, by the way, is the one known Europeanlanguage among the lower orders--I should more than once have beenhopelessly lost.

Europeans in Teheran lead a pleasant though somewhat monotonous life.Summer is, as I have said, intolerable, and all who can seek refuge inthe hills, where there are two settlements, or villages, presented bythe Shah to England and Russia. Winter is undoubtedly the pleasantestseason. Scarcely an evening passes without a dance, privatetheatricals, or other festivity given by one or other of theEmbassies, entertainments which his Imperial Majesty himselffrequently graces with his presence.

There is probably no living sovereign of whom so little is reallyknown in Europe as Nasr-oo-din, "Shah of Persia," "Asylum of theUniverse," and "King of Kings," to quote three of his more modesttitles. Although he has visited Europe twice, and been made much of inour own country, most English people know absolutely nothing of thePersian monarch's character or private life. That he ate _entrees_with his fingers at Buckingham Palace, expressed a desire to have theLord Chamberlain bowstrung, and conceived a violent and unholy passionfor an amiable society lady somewhat inclined to _embonpoint_, we aremost of us aware; but beyond this, the Shah's _vie intime_ remains, tothe majority of us at least, a sealed book. This is perhaps a pity,for, like many others, Nasr-oo-din is not so black as he is painted,and, notwithstanding all reports to the contrary, is said, by thosewho should know, to be one of the kindest-hearted creatures breathing.

The government of Persia is that of an absolute monarchy. The Shahalone has power of life and death, and, even in the most remotedistricts, the assent of the sovereign is necessary before anexecution can take place. The Shah appoints his own ministers.These are the "Sadr-Azam," or Prime Minister; the "Sapar-Sala,"Commander-in-chief; "Mustof-al-Mamalak," Secretary of State, andMinister of Foreign Affairs. These are supposed to represent the PrivyCouncil, but they very seldom meet, the Shah preferring to manageaffairs independently. The total revenue of the latter has beenestimated at seven million pounds sterling.

Nasr-oo-din, who is now sixty-five years of age, ascended the thronein 1848. His reign commenced inauspiciously with a determined attemptto assassinate him, made by a gang of fanatics of the Babi sect. Theplot, though nearly successful, was frustrated, and the conspiratorsexecuted; but it is said that the Shah has lived in constant dread ofassassination ever since. He is hypochondriacal, and, though in veryfair health, is constantly on the _qui vive_ for some imaginaryailment. The post of Court physician, filled for many years past byDr. Tholozan, a Frenchman, is no sinecure.

The habits of the Shah are simple. He is, unlike most Persians of highclass, abstemious as regards both food and drink. Two meals a day,served at midday and 9 p.m., and those of the plainest diet, washeddown by a glass or two of claret or other light wine, are all heallows himself. When on a hunting-excursion, his favourite occupation,the Shah is even more abstemious, going sometimes a whole day withoutfood of any kind. He is a crack shot, and is out nearly daily, whenthe weather permits, shooting over his splendid preserves aroundTeheran. There is no lack of sport. Tiger and bear abound; alsopartridge, woodcock, snipe, and many kinds of water-fowl; but theShah is better with the rifle than the fowling-piece. The Shah ispassionately fond of music, and has two or three string and brassbands trained and conducted by a Frenchman. When away on a longsporting-excursion, he is invariably accompanied by one of thesebands.

Were it not for the running attendants in scarlet and gold, and thecrimson-dyed [D] tail of his horse, no one would take the slim, swarthyold gentleman in black frock-coat, riding slowly through the streets,and beaming benignly through a huge pair of spectacles, for thegreat Shah-in-Shah himself. Yet he is stern and pitiless enough whennecessary, as many of the Court officials can vouch for. But few haveescaped the bastinado at one time or another; but in Persia this isnot considered an indignity, even by the highest in the land. Thestick is painful, certainly, but not a disgrace in this strangecountry.

Nasr-oo-din has three legal wives, and an unlimited number ofconcubines. Of the former, the head wife, Shuku-Es-Sultana, is his owncousin and the great-granddaughter of the celebrated Fatti-Ali-Shah,whose family was so large that, at the time of his death, one hundredand twenty of his descendants were still living. Shuku-Es-Sultana isthe mother of the "Valliad," or Crown Prince, now Governor of Tabriz.The second wife is a granddaughter of Fatti-Ali-Shah; and the third(the Shah's favourite) is one Anys-u-Dowlet. The latter is the bestlooking of the three, and certainly possesses the greatest influencein state affairs. Of the concubines, the mother of the "Zil-i-Sultan"("Shadow of the King") ranks the first in seniority. The Zil-i-Sultanis, though illegitimate, the Shah's eldest son, and is, with theexception of his father, the most influential man in Persia, theheir-apparent (Valliad) being a weak, foolish individual, easily led,and addicted to drink and the lowest forms of sensuality.

With the exception of eunuchs, no male person over the age of ten ispermitted in the seraglio, or anderoon, which is constantly receivingfresh importations from the provinces. Persians deny that there areany European women, but this is doubtful. The harems of Constantinopleand Cairo are recruited from Paris and Vienna; why not those ofTeheran? The indoor costume of the Persian lady must be somewhattrying at first to those accustomed to European toilettes. Theskirt, reaching only to the knee, is full and _bouffe_, like anopera-dancer's, the feet and legs generally bare. The only becomingpart of the whole costume is the tightly fitting zouave jacket oflight blue or scarlet satin, thickly braided with gold, and the gauzehead-dress embroidered with the same material, and fastened under thechin with a large turquoise, ruby, or other precious stone.

Some of the women (even among the concubines) are highly educated; canplay on the "tar", [E] or harmonica, sing, and read and write poetry;but their recreations are necessarily somewhat limited. Picnics,music, story-telling, kalyan and cigarette smoking, sweetmeat-making,and the bath, together with somewhat less innocent pastimes, form thesum total of a Persian concubine's amusements. Outside the walls ofthe anderoon they are closely watched and guarded, for Persiansare jealous of their women, and, even in the most formal socialgatherings, there is a strict separation of the sexes. Its imperialmaster occasionally joins in the outdoor amusements of his harem;indeed, he himself invented a game a few years since, which soundsmore original than amusing. A slide of smooth alabaster about twentyfeet long, on an inclined plane, was constructed in one of hisbath-houses. Down this the Shah would gravely slide into the water,followed by his seraglio. The sight must have been a strange one,the costumes on these occasions being, to say the least of it, scanty!

[Illustration: PERSIAN DANCING-GIRL]

The Shah's greatest failing is, perhaps, vacillation. He is constantlychanging his mind, on trifling matters chiefly, for his northernneighbours take care that he is more consistent in affairs of state.Two or three times, between his visits to Europe in 1871 and 1889, hehas started with great pomp and a large retinue for the land of the"Farangi," but, on arrival at Resht, has returned to Teheran, withouta word of warning to his ministers, or apparent reason for his suddenchange of plans. These "false starts" became a recognized thing aftera time, and when, in 1888, his Majesty embarked on his yacht and setsail for Baku, it came as a surprise, pleasant or otherwise, to hissubjects at Teheran. The final undertaking of the journey mayhave been advised by his astrologers, for the Shah is intenselysuperstitious, and never travels without them. Nor will he, on anyaccount, start on a journey on a Friday, or the thirteenth day of themonth.

The palace of Teheran is, seen from the outside, a shapeless,ramshackle structure. The outside walls are whitewashed, and coveredwith gaudy red and blue pictures of men and horses, the former inmodern military tunics and shakos, the latter painted a bright red.The figures, rudely drawn, remind one of a charity schoolboy'sartistic efforts on a slate, but are somewhat out of place on thewalls of a royal residence. The interior of the "Ark," as it iscalled, is a pleasant contrast to the outside, although even here, inthe museum, which contains some of the finest gems and _objets d'art_in the world, the various objects are placed with singular disregardof order, not to say good taste. One sees, for instance, a tawdrilydressed mechanical doll from Paris standing next to a case containingthe "Darai Nor," or "Sea of Light," a magnificent diamond obtainedin India, and said to be the largest yet discovered, though somewhatinferior in quality to the "Koh-i-noor." A cheap and somewhatdilapidated cuckoo-clock and toy velocipede flank the famous globe ofthe world in diamonds and precious stones. This, the most costly andbeautiful piece of workmanship in the place, is about eighteen inchesin diameter, and is said to have cost eight millions of francs. Thedifferent countries are marked out with surprising accuracy anddetail,--Persia being represented by turquoises, England by diamonds,Africa by rubies, and so on, the sea being of emeralds.

The museum itself is about sixty feet in length by twenty-five feetbroad, its ceiling composed entirely of looking-glasses, its parquetflooring strewn with priceless Persian rugs and carpets. Largeoil-paintings of Queen Victoria, the Czar of Russia, and othersovereigns, surround the walls, including two portraits of her Majestythe Ex-Empress Eugenie. It would weary the reader to wade through adescription of the Jade work and _cloisonne_, the porcelain of allcountries, the Japanese works of art in bronze and gold, and last, butnot least, the cut and uncut diamonds and precious stones, temptinglylaid out in open saucers, like _bonbons_ in a confectioner's shop. Thediamonds are perhaps the finest as regards quality, but there isa roughly cut ruby surmounting the imperial crown, said to be thelargest in the world.

Though it was very cold, and the snow lay deep upon the ground, mystay at Teheran was not unpleasant. The keen bracing air, brilliantsunshine, and cloudless blue sky somewhat made amends for the sorrylodging and execrable fare provided by mine host at the Hotel Prevot.I have seldom, in my travels, come across a French inn where, be thematerials ever so poor, the landlord is not able to turn out a decentmeal. I have fared well and sumptuously at New Caledonia, Saigon, andeven Pekin, under the auspices of a French innkeeper; but at Teheran(nearest of any to civilized Europe) was compelled to swallow foodthat would have disgraced a fifth-rate _gargotte_ in the slums ofParis. Perhaps Monsieur Prevot had become "Persianized"; perhapsthe dulcet tones of Madame P., whose voice, incessantly rating herservants, reminded one of unoiled machinery, and commenced at sunriseonly to be silenced (by exhaustion) at sunset, disturbed him at hisculinary labours. The fact remains that the _cuisine_ was, to any buta starving man, uneatable, the bedroom which madame was kind enough toassign to me, pitch dark and stuffy as a dog-kennel.

A long conference with General S--, an Austrian in the Persianservice, decided my future movements. The general, one of the highestgeographical authorities on Persia, strongly dissuaded my attemptingto reach India _via_ Meshed and Afghanistan. "You will only be stoppedand sent back," said he; "what is the use of losing time?" I resolved,therefore, after mature deliberation, to proceed direct to Ispahan,Shiraz, and Bushire, and from thence by steamer to Sonmiani, on thecoast of Baluchistan. From the latter port I was to strike due northto Kelat and Quetta, and "that," added the general, "will bring youacross eighty or a hundred miles of totally unexplored country. Youwill have had quite enough of it when you get to Kelat--if you ever_do_ get there," he added encouragingly.

The route now finally decided upon, preparations were made for a startas soon as possible. Portmanteaus were exchanged for a pair of lightleather saddle-bags, artistically embellished with squares of brightPersian carpet let in at the side, and purchased in the bazaar fortwenty-two kerans, or about seventeen shillings English money. Inthese I was able to carry, with ease, a couple of tweed suits, half adozen flannel shirts, three pairs of boots, and toilet necessaries, tosay nothing of a box of cigars and a small medicine-chest. Geromealso carried a pair of bags, containing, in addition to his modestwardrobe, our stores for the voyage--biscuits, Valentine's meat juice,sardines, tea, and a bottle of brandy; for, with the exception of eggsand Persian bread, one can reckon upon nothing eatable at the Chaparkhanehs. There is an excellent European store shop at Teheran, and hadit not been for limited space, we might have regaled on turtle soup,aspic jellies, quails, and _pate de foie gras_ galore throughoutPersia. Mr. R. N----, an _attache_ to the British Legation at Teheran,is justly celebrated for his repasts _en voyage_, and assured me thathe invariably sat down to a _recherche_ dinner of soup, three courses,and iced champagne, even when journeying to such remote cities asHamadan or Meshed, thereby proving that, if you only take your timeabout it, you may travel comfortably almost anywhere--even in Persia.

[Footnote A: The word _Demavend_ signifies literally "abundance ofmist," so called from the summit of this mountain being continuallywreathed in clouds.]

[Footnote B: A pipe similar to the Turkish "hubble-bubble," whereinthe tobacco is inhaled through plain or rose water.]

[Footnote C: Harem.]

[Footnote D: A badge of royalty in Persia.]

[Footnote E: A stringed instrument played in the same way as theEuropean guitar.]

CHAPTER VI.

TEHERAN--ISPAHAN.

We are already some farsakhs [A] from Teheran when day breaks on the4th of February, 1889. The start is not a propitious one. Hardly havewe cleared the Ispahan gate than down comes the Shagird's horse asif he were shot, breaking his girths and rider's thumb at the samemoment. Luckily, we are provided with rope, and Persian saddles arenot complicated. In ten minutes we are off again; but it is terriblyhard going, and all one can do to keep the horses on their legs.Towards midday the sun slightly thaws the surface of the frozen snow,and makes matters still worse. Up till now the pace has not beenexhilarating. Two or three miles an hour at most. It will take sometime to reach India at this rate!